Trade Me switches onto SIP with the help of CallPlus

So it is that the gutsy, successful online auction site Trade Me identified its top sellers and allocated them an account manager. Trade Me’s challenge then became ensuring that the top sellers got through to the right account manager immediately; that the seller’s number could be identified by the system and their call automatically routed to the priority queue.What’s more, when Trade Me’s Head of Infrastructure, Dave Wasley, asked his existing supplier if they could arrange for SIP trunking to be integrated into the network so calls could be automatically prioritised, they said it couldn’t be done. So he asked CallPlus and they said, “of course”.This was two years ago, and Wasley says overall the four-week implementation period went well and the new system has created plenty of tangible paybacks for Trade Me’s business. CallPlus and Trade Me worked together closely through the initial setup and deployment, ironing out any wrinkles along the way. Its top sellers are not only given gold-plated telephony service, but all of Trade Me’s customers are benefiting. The total solution saw Trade Me replace its “black box” PBX with an Open source VoIP system which leveraged the SIP trunks provided by CallPlus. This overall solution has enabled better call reporting, so that now the 45-seat contact centre can get an accurate measurement of key metrics such as Average Handling Time, and Average Speed of Answer. “CallPlus’ VoIP solution has been a piece of work that was vital to providing the business with the tools it needed to improve its overall customer service,” says Wasley.Being Trade Me, there’s a group of skilled technologists itching to optimise the solution and manage calls in better and more useful ways, so it’s welcomed the installation of a flexible solution which allows for in-house customisation. In addition, Wasley says his team is continually working to improve Trade Me’s own IP network in order to make better use of the features available in the solution.It isn’t only the contact centre that’s better off; the finance department is also pleased with the 20% reduction in monthly call costs – a saving that Wasley says can be directly attributed to the new system. And HR is happy too. Following its VoIP deployment, Trade Me has since acquired two online businesses in the South Island.  Rather than relocate those staff members to HQ in Wellington, they’ve been able to work remotely from Dunedin and Christchurch. They simply plug their softphones into their laptops and they’re working on the same telephony platform as their colleagues, accessing the same call queues.There are around 150 staff at Trade Me, with the majority working from offices in central Wellington and in Parnell, Auckland. Wasley says they’re now looking at getting better call redundancy and ensure seamless failover between these two offices in the case of a localised fault. Wasley’s goal is to work with CallPlus to ensure complete resiliency across its VoIP platform and to leverage off its existing private network to route calls between offices.  This should ensure calls still reach the intended office, all at efficient speeds, ensuring the customer is never impacted.As for Trade Me staff themselves, Wasley’s goal is to ensure further adoption of the technology throughout the business and full use of its richer capabilities. For example, he’s aiming to further reduce the company’s mobile phone costs by encouraging staff that work remotely, particularly when overseas, to go online, plug the soft phone into the laptop and to make calls directly over the internet, integrating into their VoIP solution.“A combination of CallPlus’ SIP trunks and our internal unified messaging platform is enabling some really great technology. We’ll continue to build and develop great services over this solution,” says Wasley.CallPlus’ General Manager, Kelvin Hussey, says, “We’re proud to be the New Zealand innovators in SIP technology – and delighted to see how it’s benefiting our customers. They are taking advantage of the flexibility and the ability to scale as demand fluctuates. In addition, they really enjoy the resulting cost savings, which are averaging 23% in some solutions. You will see more SIP solutions in the market from us in the coming year aimed at both small and medium enterprises. It’s exciting that all businesses are able to benefit from this technology – not just corporates”.